Pastor

Recording artist

Matt Papa is a pastor, worship leader and recording artist in Raleigh, North Carolina, where he lives with his wife, Lauren and their three daughters.

For over a decade, Matt has been writing and recording songs that are saturated with God’s Truth. To Papa, a song is more than just lyrics and melody—it’s ‘a sermon that people remember’. His latest studio release, “Look & Live” (2013), is a loud and liberating call to people everywhere to break the chains of boredom, addiction, and idolatry…not by trying harder, but by experiencing a greater thrill—the beauty and glory of God. At the heart of his ministry is a vision to see the nations worship the One True God. To that end, Matt radically leverages his life, his ministry and his music.

On Camera

“Matt has helped me see that love for God grows out of an experience of beholding the love of God. We burn only as we behold. . . . This is a fantastic book and I commend it to you with the most enthusiastic support.”
— J.D. Greear, Author, Speaker, Lead Pastor at the Summit Church in Raleigh, NC

“If C. S. Lewis and David Crowder wrote a book together about worship, you would have the rich theology of the great Christian apologist with the deep passion of worship from the contemporary artist. That’s what Matt Papa has given us in Look and Live–a must-read for every worshiper.”
–Mike Harland, president of LifeWay Worship

“Matt Papa’s helpful book offers a compelling reminder that in the fast pace of life, there is a still small voice with a Galilean accent calling us to look and live: because He alone is the way, the truth, and the life.”
–Dan DeWitt, author of Jesus or Nothing, and dean of Boyce College, undergraduate school of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

“Matt Papa is a man on a mission and he’s taking no prisoners. He has been undone by the soul-piercing glory of Jesus Christ and wants everyone who comes near him to join him in worship. And we’re not talking about a mild-mannered, comfortable, popular kind of worship (if there is such a thing). Matt is after your heart. He helps us cut through the empty, destructive promises of our idols to see the glory of the Triune God for what it truly is–a liberating, sanctifying, enriching, life-changing, joy-producing, worth-living-and-dying-for glory.”
–Bob Kauflin,director of Sovereign Grace Music

Matt’s Latest Book

Matt Papa was a “professional Christian” in full-time ministry, ready and determined to change the world. All the while, he was depressed, addicted to the approval of others and enslaved to sin. But everything changed when he encountered the glory of God.

All of us live in the tension between where we are and where we feel like we ought to be. We try our best to bully our desires into submission. And it’s not only an exercise in futility, it’s exhausting.

The book is for those who feel tired and stuck. It’s for those who’ve been battling the same sin, year after year. It calls us not to work harder or to strive, but to lift our eyes. We don’t need more willpower, Papa says. We need a vision of greatness that sweeps us off our feet. We need to see glory. When we do this, when we look upon the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, we can truly live.